Chapter 1 #7
If they’d come here to hurt her, that wasn’t a very smart strategy.
But if they just wanted to scare her…
Angry that they had, she walked through the shop with new eyes. She could leave and let the Realtor try to sell it. Or she could dig her heels in and stay to show everyone she couldn’t be bullied. Nor sit around waiting for Jack Rawlins to save her.
She knew what her great Aunt Clara would do.
Looking around the space, Josephine smiled as she cupped the silver dollar in her pocket. She was Clara’s blood and she had been taught by the best. Jack wasn’t going to like it, but that made the idea even more appealing. The more he tried to protect her, the more uneasy she was becoming.
Wouldn’t she be a fool to trust Jack Rawlins?
Her heart said one thing, her common sense another. But she had to admit, she did appreciate the locks he’d put on the alley door and that he was trying to find the Armstrongs.
But that also made her uncomfortable. She’d learned to take care of herself after her week at her great Aunt Clara’s, since the divorce had been a nightmare and her once divorced parents a furious mess, and she’d definitely been alone at the all-girls boarding school.
Pushing those thoughts away, she wondered how long it would take for word to spread about her upcoming poker parties.
Not long, she thought after she called to tell the waiter from the pub about them. News circulated quickly in a small town she knew.
It wouldn’t be long before whoever she might have to fear would make themselves known.
-#-
Jack couldn’t help feeling anxious about Josephine. Now that he thought about it, telling her to stay put and call him if she left the apartment had definitely been a mistake. What were the chances she would do just the opposite? He could almost bet on it.
Once in his rig, he pulled out his phone.
He worried there was more to know about the Armstrongs.
It only took him a few minutes to run both of their names through the database.
He didn’t like what he found. Both had records of petty crimes going back for years, but it was their violent history that worried him the most.
These weren’t just two men mad about losing money in a poker game, and he suspected Josephine knew it. So why wasn’t she more worried? Because she thought she could handle them?
What the Armstrong twins weren’t, though, were the types to con Aunt Clara into leaving her niece a bridal shop in Wild Rose Point, Oregon, to flush her out.
They didn’t seem to have the patience to pull something like that off.
They also weren’t the types to leave the note. Do you feel lucky, Josephine?
The last owner of Seaside Vows before Josephine was Clara Bodine of Black Butte, Montana.
He’d already checked. But it was the owner before the aunt that stopped him.
WPS Inc. He tried to track it down only to run into more LLCs.
Whoever had actually owned the bridal shop, it hadn’t been the Armstrongs.
He put away his phone and concentrated on finding the men. Off-season out here on the West Coast, he thought it would be easy. As the elderly clerk at the motel where he was staying had said, this time of year was perfect in Wild Rose Point because the crowds were gone.
“Fall provides a quiet, dramatic experience with fewer crowds, lower rates and opportunities for storm watching, beachcombing, and getting a chance to see migrating whales,” she’d said as if reading it off a brochure.
“In other words, rainy and cold,” he’d said, but smiled to soften his words.
She’d laughed. “The temperatures are cooler, and yes, there is rain and wind, which makes it ideal for cozying up in front of the fire. But it’s a great time to explore secluded areas of the coast, and we all love the dramatic skies this time of year.”
“That all sounds wonderful,” he’d told the woman, thinking of being curled up with Josephine watching the storm from the warmth of her bed.
As for strolls along the “beach”, from what he’d seen, the shore was rocky, slick, and hard to navigate. Nor had he missed how the town sat up on a cliff overlooking the sea and the rocky shore below.
What he’d thought was how dangerous it could be.
Jack had figured it couldn’t be that hard to find two identical twin men in this small town, even with Darwin sporting a scar. He started with the cheaper motels on the edge of town.
He thought twins would make the pair especially memorable.
But soon realized they may have been making a point of not being seen together.
Not to mention, both of them might not even be in Wild Rose Point since so far, he’d only seen one.
Still, if one Armstrong had checked in using his own name, Jack would have found him.
-#-
Once Josephine made the decision, she moved quickly. She discovered there were eight tribal casinos in the state, with eight of the nine tribes running them. It didn’t take long to find a casino supply store where she placed an order for what she would need.
Keeping it simple, she ordered an eight-person round poker table, chairs, cards, and a metal locked box for making change.
They wouldn’t need chips. They’d be playing for real money.
If she ended up staying in Oregon longer, she could expand, but for now, she’d offer five-card draw—just like Clara had taught her.
She figured she could take in enough money and keep herself busy at the same time that the equipment would pay for itself. She’d have the pub cater the games. It would just be a matter of moving a few things around in the shop before her order arrived.
As she considered where she was going to put what she didn’t need, there was a knock at the front door. It startled her because the closed sign was on the door. Another knock, this one harder. “Josephine.”
Jack. She sighed, then realized she could get him to help her move things out of the main room.
She wanted to be ready when her order arrived.
Also, she appreciated him putting the locks on the door.
Maybe he’d even found the Armstrongs and run them out of town.
She realized he could come in handy if he was determined to stay in Wild Rose Point.
But as she opened the door, she realized what a bad idea it was having him around. Every time she saw him, she felt that flutter in her chest as her resolve to keep her distance became weaker.
He stepped in, bringing the distinct smells of the Pacific with him. “Doing some decorating?” he asked, indicating the chairs she’d pulled out into the middle of the room.
“I’m glad you’re here,” she said, and realized he was going to hate what she had planned. He’d think it was too dangerous, which there was that. Not that it would stop her. “I need your advice.” Men always liked that, she thought.“I’m going to start holding poker parties here until the shop sells.”
“You what?” She knew that sharp bite to his tone.
She motioned to the furniture already there. “I just don’t know where to put everything.”
“Josephine.” He stepped in front of her, blocking her from looking at anything but him. “Tell me you aren’t serious.”
“I’m going to need to make money if I’m stuck here, and since I own the building…”
“What about the Armstrongs?”
“Did you find them?”
He avoided her gaze. “No, but I’m not quitting until I do.”
“There’s no need. I figure they’ll hear about my little endeavor and let me know what brought them all the way out here to Oregon during off season.”
“And you don’t think that might be incredibly dangerous?”
-#-
Jack swore. He’d been afraid she’d do something like this. She didn’t like taking help from anyone—and especially didn’t like needing it. While Josephine Bodine figured things out for herself and clearly stubbornly took pride in doing so, she had no patience.
“Have you checked into licensing such a business in Oregon?”
She laughed. “I’m just inviting some new friends over for a friendly game of poker a few nights a week. I don’t need a license since the “house” won’t be taking a cut. I’ll take donations for the refreshments, and I can win enough to pay for expenses.”
He didn’t know what to say. Josephine was one hell of a poker player. She could pull this off. But she had two angry Armstrongs after her—not to mention possibly the person behind her being in Oregon to begin with.
This time he worried she was in over her head. “So let me see if I have this right. You’re using yourself as bait.”
She looked at him with wide-eyed innocence as she pretended to pout. Damn, but he wanted to kiss that pout right off her lips.
“Admit it, it’s a good plan,” she said. “And right now those are the only cards I have to play.”
“Anything is a better plan,” he said. “The person you have to fear the most might show up for your poker game, and you won’t have any idea who they are until it is too late. Tell me you haven’t gotten any more notes.”
She shook her head, but he had a feeling she was holding out on him. “What option do I have?” she asked, anger growing in her eyes. “I can sit around and wait, or I can smoke out whoever might have a problem with me. It isn’t like they’re going to shoot me in front of the other players.”
He hoped not, but he’d learned to never count on much of anything when it was a gamble.
“Either way, I won’t be sitting around waiting for someone to make a move. I wager it will flush out the Armstrongs.”
“You really think they’d come to one of your poker parties after losing so badly? If they did, from what I’ve found out about them, they would rob you and the other poker players before shooting them.”
She didn’t argue. Josephine knew anything could happen, but wasn’t that part of her personality? Uncertainty was what made compulsive gamblers tick. But the golden rule had always been to never gamble with more than you could afford to lose.
Josephine was gambling with her life.